Ready to organize your online business with AirTable?
AirTable is my secret weapon to keeping EVERYTHING organized in my business. From collaborating on social media content to keeping track of affiliate links and staying super consistent with my weekly newsletter… AirTable has everything I need!
Organizing your online business with AirTable is my #1 recommendation for every single entrepreneur I’ve met. Even if you are already using a tool like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp, adding AirTable to create databases will revolutionize how you do business.
What is AirTable?
AirTable is spreadsheets on steroids. 💪
Or, you could describe it as a mix between databases and spreadsheets. You get the power and versatility of a database, but with the layout of a spreadsheet.
AIRTABLE VIDEO
Source: https:/airtable.com/
AirTable vs. Excel / Sheets / Numbers
If you have used Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers before, you’ll notice a lot of similarities between those programs and AirTable.
The most obvious feature is that all of these programs use columns and rows to organize information. AirTable takes it one step further allowing you to easily add and format many types of data other than text and numbers.
Pretty much anything you can do with a spreadsheet, you can do better in AirTable.
However, there is one thing I prefer using spreadsheets for… numbers. If you’re tracking data like finances or metrics, spreadsheets work much better. Formulas, charts and graphs, reports… it all works much better in a spreadsheet (even though AirTable does have those features).
For any other type of database, AirTable is the best option!
Learn AirTable Basics
It can feel overwhelming to learn yet another new tool, but organizing your online business with AirTable is pretty easy, and it will completely change the way you run your business, for the better!
Here are some basic AirTable tips to help you get started.
Common AirTable Terms
If you’re used to dealing with spreadsheets, you’ll need to adjust some of the terminology you use in order to get familiar with AirTable.
Spreadsheet >> Base. An entire spreadsheet file (including all the tabs) is called a Base in AirTable. The free plan comes with unlimited bases! Here are the bases I’m currently using:
Workspace — This is a collection of bases (seen above) that you can share with people in order to collaborate. Think of it like a folder where you store all your spreadsheets. AirTable allows you to have unlimited workspaces, or “folders,” for your Bases.
Tabs >> Tables. Pretty similar, but each AirTable base is made up of 1 or more tables. For example: In my Content Vault, I have tables for Blog Posts, Guest Posts, Videos, Social Media Posts, etc.
Rows >> Records. This is the big one… Each row of your table is its own individual record. You can actually open each record in a pop up window to view it in more detail and easily make changes.
Columns >> Fields. This is where I really start to love AirTable. There are more than 20+ field types that you can use to add information! Some of my most used are short and long text, URLs, dates, attachments, single and multi select dropdowns, checkboxes, and numbers. Check out all of AirTable’s field types to learn more.
Fields make AirTable a much more powerful tool than regular spreadsheets. I also think it makes it easier to use because you don’t end up with a bunch of formatting issues, AND it’s easier to sort and group your information.
Views. Well, spreadsheets don’t really have anything comparable. Views in AirTable allow you to see your data in a variety of ways: grid, form, calendar, gallery, Kanban, and Gantt. You can also save your views so you can use them over and over again.
AirTable Automations
Do you enjoy saving time? Setting things once and forgetting about them? Streamlining your workflow? Taking a vacation without things falling through the cracks?
That’s where AirTable automations come in handy!
The free plan comes with 100 automation runs per month so you can play around with them even if you aren’t on a paid plan.
If you’re familiar with Zapier or email automations, AirTable automations work very similarly. Create a trigger (if this happens) and then set your action (do this thing).
Here are the most popular tools you can connect with AirTable automations:
- Slack - send a message
- Gmail - send an email
- Google Calendar - create or update an event
- Google Forms - create response
- Google Sheets - append a row
- Google Docs - create or update a doc
- Microsoft Teams - send a message
- Facebook Pages - create a post
- Outlook - send email
- Hootsuite - schedule a post
Learn more about AirTable Automations in their support docs.
My Top AirTable Tips
I’ve been using AirTable since early 2020 when I first discovered it, and now I couldn’t imagine operating my business without it.
If you want to organize your online business with AirTable, I’ve got some tips that will help you get started.
Create a Practice Base
Create a new base and copy and paste a bunch of random data into it. Better yet, use one of AirTable’s templates!
Get to know AirTable by playing around with the base. Click on all the things, make changes, delete things, test out automations, and never worry about messing up your important info.
Get the AirTable App
I once planned out my social media content for a month while waiting in line to vote for president. AirTable made it so easy for me to select dates, type out a caption or idea, and leave a note for my social media manager.
While it’s definitely easier to use the desktop version, the app is great when you’re on the go and need to get some work done!
Automate with Zapier!
While AirTable does have powerful built-in automations, it’s more limited than Zapier. If you need to connect with tools that aren’t included like ThriveCart, ClickUp, or ConvertKit, you can use Zapier to automate your business further!
How I Organize My Online Business With Airtable
Now here’s the best part… I’m going to let you peek behind the scenes at how I organize my online business with AirTable! I won’t go over all of my bases, but I’ll show you the ones I use most often.
If you’d like to learn more and get my AirTable templates, join The Template Nook!
Content Vault
This is the biggest of all my AirTable bases, and it’s the one I use most often.
Here’s what’s inside my AirTable Content Vault:
- Blog Posts
- Guest Posts
- Videos (singles)
- Videos (products)
- Sequences
- SM Posts
- Lead Magnets
- Products
- Templates
- Website URLs
- Redirects
- Inspo
Having ALL of the things I’ve created in a single location makes it really easy for me to reference and repurpose my content.
Did it take hours and hours to build it? Yup.
Was it worth the time and effort? Abso-fluffin-lutely!
I have saved so much time by having this vault, and I know it will continue to serve me in the future as my business grows and I add more team members.
Newsletter Planning + Tracking
Every Wednesday I send out the Take Action Newsletter. I am 100% committed to being consistent and never missing an issue. And for 3 years, I haven’t missed a single week. How?
I plan and track my weekly newsletters in AirTable.
- Issue Date
- Issue #
- Subject
- Read Me - I like to share an article from my website or others
- Try This - Resource or thing to try related to the article
- Take Action - Task to do that week for your biz
- Print to PDF - A PDF of the email
- Sent to - # of subscribers the email was sent to
- Opens - # of subscribers who opened it (I record this when I plan the next email, so about every 7 days)
- Open Rate - % of people who opened it (Opens/Sent to * 100)
- Clicks - # of total clicks on all links
- Copy - I copy and paste all of the text here so I can repurpose it
Membership Planning + Tracking
While I plan a lot of my membership content in Google Docs, I still like having a general, overall plan in AirTable. It makes it easy for me to quickly see at a glance what’s coming up and what I need to work on next.
- Schedule - I outline each week of content, the monthly topic, and our focus for individual weeks.
- Requested Topics - Members of The Template Nook (formerly The Organized Corner) can request topics so I track all of those requests and check them off once I’ve covered them.
- Revenue - A table where I can quickly calculate monthly revenue
- Pricing - A table where I can play with different pricing options
Affiliate Marketing
Once you start joining affiliate programs, you must have a place to keep track of them or you might forget!
Here are the different things I make note of in AirTable for my affiliates:
- Name
- Resource Page - I put a check if it’s currently on my resource page
- Category
- Logo
- Status - Active, Apply, Pending, Remove, Unavailable
- Pretty Link - A WordPress plugin I use to make my affiliate links
- Destination Link - The original affiliate link
- Type - Software, Course, Blog Post, Freebie, Membership, Product
- Compensation
- Network
- Notes
Organizing all the things!
Any time I need to organize data, AirTable is my favorite tool. It seems like each month I come up with a new idea of things I can organize in AirTable:
- Resources (like courses and freebies)
- Social Media Posts
- My private Facebook Group
- Tools + Software (including renewal payments)
- Metrics (although I do prefer spreadsheets for this)
- Testimonials
- Leads and Connections
- Recurring Tasks
There’s truly no limit to what you can do with AirTable! It’s a must-have tool for my business that saves a ton of time and frustration because I can easily find anything I need.
Take Action
Let’s get started organizing your online business with AirTable!
- Create a free AirTable account
- Join The Template Nook for tons of AirTable templates!
- Create your first base and get familiar with the features
- Start organizing ALL.THE.THINGS!
Need more help getting started? AirTable Support has some great guides and tools to help you!
